Hola! The last two weeks went by super fast and I couldn’t find time to update! Last week was the second week of our “Intensive Language Session.” It actually wasn’t as intense as they made it seem but it was still helpful! They made it sound like they were gonna lock us in a room or something and throw a bunch of Spanish in our face but it was pretty much just like a normal Spanish class. We did speak a lot more in class though which was helpful instead of just doing grammar exercises, etc. Something cool that we did last week was a party for intercambios! The word intercambio just means ‘exchange’ and our program assigns us each an intercambio, a Spanish student who wants to learn English and can help us with our Spanish! They sent us each the student’s name and phone number and we had to e-mail them saying that we were all getting together. You don’t have to contact your intercambio but its great practice so I e-mailed mine and told her and I got an e-mail back saying she was in Poland for the semester….my luck, right? She said they must have made a mistake so I told the coordinator guy and he said he had no idea and that he could give me the name of another intercambio if I wanted. The get together was at “la Tetería de los baños arabes,” which if anyone knows Spanish means tea at the Arab baths…this doesn’t mean I drank tea in an Arab bathtub, it was a restaurant type place but also a spa where people can get massages etc., a very tranquil place. I went because they had told me they invited ‘extra’ intercambios and it all worked out because my friend and I were both intercambio-less and ended up meeting these two students who said they would be ours! Their names are Miguel and Ishmael and we were talking Spanish while they were trying to speak English….I’m sure it sounded strange to the people around us. It’s awesome practice though so whatever I can get!
I have gotten to know my señora, Rosario, a little better too. Last weekend was full of visitors from her family. Two of her grandchildren, Paula-7 and Carla-10, stayed over Friday night and then her youngest daughter Elena-25 visited but stayed somewhere else and then her other daughter Rosario-35(?) stayed Saturday night. It was really busy and kind of a lot to handle but I got to spend the most time with the two grandchildren. They were absolutely adorable and spoke a tiny bit of English so it was fun to practice speaking with them, although they kept laughing at my Spanish skills. Also, whenever I said “um,” they would burst out laughing because Spanish people don’t use that word. “Um” is probably one of the most common things I say when I’m thinking (especially about how to say something in another language) so needless to say they thought I was pretty funny, although they were laughing at me…oh well! They watched some Disney channel in English which I enjoyed because I haven’t really watched anything but the Spanish news on the TV with Rosario, or some very strange game shows…
- Fun fact- I just learned the other day that when I refer to Rosario as “my señora” in to other people in Spanish it actually means ‘my wife’….so there may be a select group of Spaniards who think I live with my wife, Rosario…
This past week was the first week of the “Regular Session.” As of right now I am taking two Spanish classes (one grammar and one conversation), a class called Spanish culture and civilization, and another class called Spanish contemporary film. The week was actually veryyy confusing seeing as people kept switching around classes and seeing professors they could or could not understand since all my classes are taught in SPANISH…I don’t think I truly grasped that concept until I tried to take notes in one of my classes and later realized I speak beautiful “Spanglish”. There were some things I write down in Spanish but other, new words I might write in English, or both, so needless to say it should be very interesting when it comes time to actually needing to read and study my notes…
A group of about four of my friends decided very last minute to take a trip to Madrid this past weekend and it sounded like a blast but I have already visited Madrid before and it was just too last minute for me. Plus I had already had my heart set on a wine tour my friend had told me about and I am happy I stayed!! Since we don’t have classes on Fridays (bonus) two of my friends and I decided to go to Jerez de la Frontera which is an hour away from Sevilla and filled with many bodegas (wineries). Friday was an absolutely gorgeous day! The weather all last week was 60s and sunny! We took an 11am train to Jerez and got there at about 12. We didn’t actually know where the winery was in relation to the train station but after speaking with some friendly Spaniards, we found it was only about a 20 minute walk, it was truly perfect! We were able to walk around and see the town, visit its Cathedral, check out its Alcazar and then take the 2 o’clock tour! The winery was called González Byass, part of Tio Pepe. They make both wine and brandy. I have done a wine tasting before in Italy but this was very different. We actually got a tour of the wine cellars and where they make the wine. The tour even included a video about the history of Tio Pepe. The tour was about an hour and a half and then we were brought to this room that looked like the setting of a circus, where we got to try some of the wine and eat a few tapas. The wine was too strong for me personally, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it! The group next to us was a man and 5 young girls and they didn’t even touch their wine or their food...so after they left we took their bottle of wine and tapas and split it with another couple who had the same idea! It was so much fun and after the tour, we still had a lot of time before our train so we went to a pasteleria and got dessert and ate it with a glass of wine in the sun! Talk about a good day, huh? We took the 6:30 train back to Sevilla and arrived at about quarter to 8, just in time to eat dinner with Rosario and then meet back up with my friends to go out!
If anyone is interested, here is the website for Tio Pepe.
Tio Pepe
The rest of this weekend was pretty casual, I did a little more exploring around my neighborhood and got a coffee with my friend…yes I am trying to drink coffee here and to be honest I feel like I am starting to enjoy it! I don’t know if that’s good or bad…This week is going to be another filled with classes and probably more coffee but on Friday I leave for MOROCCO!! I will update as soon as I return!
Besos!
No comments:
Post a Comment